HSM 454 Casull "Bear Load" ***Be Warned***

[red87yj]

Hey all!

I apologize if this is in the wrong place, but I would like to warn others before they make the same mistake I did.

I bought 2 boxes of HSM 454 Casull 325gr Bear Load from Cabelas about 1 month ago. Sunday, I go to fire the first cylinder and get 2-3 rounds in before the gun locks up. This is not my first time shooting the revolver - a 6.5" Ruger Super BlackHawk. I noted that the rounds provided slightly less recoil than the handloads that were shot directly after this incident. After only a couple rounds, the remaining rounds (all of them!) in the firearm had jumped the cannelure so far that the rounds protruded past the end of the cylinder and were hitting the forcing cone. I had to pull the base pin with live rounds in the cylinder to clear the problem. Needless to say, not an ideal situation!

While this is not an unknown occurrence in light weight firearms, I would not consider this to be a light weight firearm! My hand loads (30.0 gr H110 over a 300 gr bullet - please do not replicate load and if you do, you are responsible for your own actions!) have never resulted in this situation and my crimp only slightly deforms the ridges in the cannelure.

Please beware if you should purchase this ammo and hope to actually use it as bear protection, you will be sorely mistaken! After spending about $120 on two boxes of ammo, I believe my only recourse will be to pull the bullets and add the cases to my collection since you are not able to return ammo at Cabelas. I have reached out to the manufacturer with no response and at this point, I do not expect one.

Best of luck all!

[bamboomaster]

Thanks for sharing your experience with the forum.

Sounds as if a heavy crimp didn't come with the heavier 325 gr bullet. Maybe a NOOB was running the reloading machine, was supposed to do a run of 1,000 "Bear Loads", and among other possible issues, inadvertently forgot to adjust for a heavier crimp?

"Hey, we need you to get these done before you leave today - we gotta send them out ASAP."

A heavier 325 gr. bullet with the correct crimp would have produced more recoil than your personal reloads with lighter 300 gr. bullets.

If you took pics and sent them to Cabelas, I would like to believe they would make it right by refunding whatever you paid for what may have been improperly reloaded ammo. Even if you didn't take any pics, hopefully their quality control folks would address the issue...

Instead of lawyering up, maybe just send a letter to the President of the Cabelas division (I think now owned by Bass Pro but folks here will correct me if I'm wrong) . Be sure it's certified mail, return receipt requested. And be sure to mention what you believe to be a fair and equitable solution to this issue.

Just sayin...

Thanks again for sharing what could have been a catastrophic experience..

[Gunsnwater]

Why not just crimp them?

[PaJeepn]

Hey guys,

I pulled 2 bullets from the case and found a 2 grain variation between just those two samples - just further proving how terrible this ammo is.

I ran 5 through my seat/crimp die and I was able to get all 5 out, but still had some movement. Will adjust and try again.

For what it's worth, at $1.20/round I dont want to have to screw with the ammo to make it work, especially when it is marketed as self defense rounds.

[bamboomaster]

Hope it's OK that I inquire, but are you "PaJeepn" and the OP "red7yj" cousins???

[Delkal]

Since you reload and already have a good load for bear why did you buy $120 of commercial loads? You can match the cast lead loads for under $25 cents a shot. Even less if you buy a Lee mold and cast your own.

Something is not right here.

[PaJeepn]

I am not a fan of having my integrity question by someone relying on the anonymity of the internet. Allow me to elaborate for your convenience...

I purchased a new firearm and bought some HSM ammo along with some cases to load and a box of hornady xtp 300 gr hp. I always enjoy loading so I dove into that before the factory ammo. Reading on the interwebs suggest the above loading was a very good load.

What would I have to gain by falsely reporting my findings of a box of factory ammo?

*update* 5 more rounds have a heavier crimp and I will test as soon as time allows

[PaJeepn]

Same person apparently different names between PC and cell?

I didnt realize! Thanks for catching that...

[Bang]

3 posts since August 2008? That's a bit unusual. Even more so than 33 posts since June 2008.

[PaJeepn]

3 posts since August 2008? That's a bit unusual. Even more so than 33 posts since June 2008.

What are you getting at here?